1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a reclosable blister package.
2. The Related Art
Blister packages are characterized by a transparent thermoformed plastic covering bonded to a backing card, to a transparent sheet or similar support material. Small articles such as cotton swabs are particularly suited for containment therein. Consumers can easily view the packaged product prior to purchase.
Removal of the product usually requires the consumer to irreversibly tear open the package. There is advantage to a reclosable blister that minimizes damage to the original container.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,930,627 describes a reclosable display package having a bubble body mounted onto a card. An egress opening is situated on a front face of the body. There is also a cover integral with the body and connected thereto by an integral hinge. The cover is pivotable about the hinge to fully close the egress opening. Pivot of the cover about the integral hinge allows the former to serve as a rear base and support for display of the package in a rearwardly inclined position with the egress opening uncovered. A wedge-shaped depression on the body above the egress opening cooperates with a wedge-shaped projection on the cover to achieve a snap-on seal.
A problem with the known art is that there is only a strong seal along the front face of the cover surrounding the egress opening. Contaminants including dust and dirt however have access to the product. Sterile products such as cotton swabs or the like need greater protection than available from this known art.
Another problem with the art as found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,930,627 is the difficulty in restraining or extracting product items from the egress opening. For instance, in the display position cotton swab sticks will, as a mass, tumble out of a too large opening. On the other hand, constriction of the opening to prevent such occurrence will cause difficulty in extracting sticks.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a blister package having a reclosable cover over a front face egress opening, the cover being hingedly attached to a backing card and rotatable to support the latter for standing in an up-right position.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a blister package having a reclosable cover sealable along each face thereof.
An additional object of the present invention is to provide a blister package of the aforementioned type with an egress opening that in the display position is designed to prevent product items from falling out while still allowing ready extraction thereof.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide a blister package of the aforementioned type having greater support along the hinged base which contacts the rear of the backing card.
These and other objects of the present invention will become more evident through the following drawing and detailed description.